In March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted a resolution for the development of an “international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment“. The resolution calls for attention to product design, environmentally sound waste management, efficient use of resources and circular economy approaches. According to its mandate, this process is expected to deliver a proposal for a global treaty at the fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committing (INC-5) in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 25 November to 1 December 2024.
INC-4 took place in Ottawa from 23 to 29 April with 2,500 delegates participating in 5 working groups. As Systemiq put it in a briefing note for negotiators (link), the discussions can be grouped around 2 key variables: the scope of the treaty and the need for coordination.
Tag: Policy-making
Textile waste in Europe: a test case for the transition to Circular Economy?
According to the European Environmental Agency (link), textiles have on average the fourth highest negative life cycle impact on the environment and climate change, after food, housing and mobility, The yearly quantity of textile wastes generated in the EU amounts to approximately 7 million tons. The graph below (source EEA) present the estimated annual consumption (production + import – export) of of clothing, footwear and household textiles per inhabitant in the EU.
Europe’s environment is at a tipping point
These were the words of Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director, when presented Europe’s state of the environment 2020 (link). He put strong emphasis on the conclusion that “Europe has a narrow window of opportunity in the next decade to scale up measures to protect nature, lessen the impacts of climate change and radically reduce our consumption of natural resources”.
Continue reading “Europe’s environment is at a tipping point”
Sustainable Synergies 